Many devices use a touch-sensing system as the primary form of input. This method brings along some inherent disadvantages, which the present disclosure remedies. One of these disadvantages is the lack of tactile feedback. The touch-sensing systems are often associated with a smooth touch-receiving surface, lacking any texture or surface irregularities that the user can feel.
Touch-sensing systems can take various forms, and generally entail one or more touch-receiving sensors or switches that are selectively actuated by a user and electrically connected to a processor or similar device programmed to perform certain operation(s) in response to a signal received from the touch-receiving sensor(s). The touch-receiving sensor(s) are presented to a user in various formats, but are typically located on, below, or within a display screen, located to sense a touch at one (or more) designated touch coordinates (or areas) along the display screen. For example, the touch-receiving sensor can be located immediately at (or below) the designated touch coordinates; alternatively, a series of touch-receiving sensors can be provided that collectively operate to recognize a touch at the designated touch coordinates. Various icons, symbols, pictures, characters (e.g., alphanumeric), etc., are displayed on the display screen at or “over” the designated touch coordinates so that a user viewing the display screen understands that by touching the display screen in the area of the indicia (and thus actuating the touch-receiving sensor(s)), a desired operation will be performed. By way of example, FIG. 1 is a simplified view of a hand-held device 50 including a display screen 52. Several touch-receiving sensors 54, 56 are associated with the display screen 52 to define two designated touch coordinates along the display screen 52, and are shown in phantom in FIG. 1 (i.e., the touch-receiving sensors 54, 56 are not readily visible to a viewer). In FIG. 2, the device 50 is operated to display indicia 60, 62 “over” each of the touch-receiving sensors 54, 56. It will be understood that in other common configurations (e.g., capacitive touch systems described below), the touch-receiving sensors 54, 56 are not located immediately below the designated touch coordinates (i.e., coordinates of the indicia 60, 62), but instead are collectively located to respond to a touch at the designated touch coordinates. Regardless, the indicia 60, 62 effectively serve as virtual buttons, controllers, or keyboards, providing the user with an immediate visual clue as to what type of operation will be prompted should the user touch the display screen in the region of the indicia.
Touch-receiving sensors are commonly of the “capacitive touch” variety. These touch-receiving sensors sense the electrical properties of a user's finger to determine if the user has touched the screen, and if so, where the touch occurred. It should be noted that these properties do not have to be present directly on top of the display screen to be sensed. For example, it is common practice to have a clear film (e.g., a screen protector) or other non-conductive material placed over the display screen; capacitive touch sensor systems are configured such that these non-conductive layers do not interfere with intended sensor operation. Another type of touch-receiving sensor is known as “resistive touch”. This type is simpler electrically, since it only requires mechanical pressure to register a touch, and does not require any certain electrical properties to be present.
In the case of a “capacitive touch” sensing device, interfacing a button keypad is non-trivial. The pressure of a user's finger on a button alone is not enough for the system to sense a touch. Instead, the electrical properties of the user's finger must be communicated to, or replicated on, the touch-sensing system.
There are several devices on the market today that use touch-sensing systems as the main format for user input, such as the Apple iPhone, the Apple iPod Touch, and the Microsoft Zune HD. The iPhone presents a use environment that will be familiar to many readers, and will be used for examples. In no way is the present disclosure intended to be restricted to this device, and in no way are the examples meant to suggest any kind of preferred form or application. On the iPhone, the display device and the touch-sensing system are the same size and shape, and the touch-sensing system is overlaid directly on top of the display. Therefore it may be helpful to use the term ‘touch screen’ to refer to the touch-sensing system and the display device.
In many cases, the touch-sensing system and display device act in conjunction to mimic hardware input systems such as buttons. For example, on the iPhone users can input data using an on-screen virtual keyboard. The keyboard is displayed on the screen, and users can input or “select” a character by touching any of the displayed keys. The device can sense when the user has touched one of the displayed keys, and the system can respond with visual and/or auditory feedback to the user.
The flat and smooth touch screen inherently provides a small level of tactile feedback to the user, and for many end-use applications, this is acceptable. However, the minimal feedback provided by the touch screen is noticeably different from the tactile feedback provided by a physical, spring-loaded button, such as commonly provided with hand-held video game controllers. In video games, tactile and sensory feedback can be especially important. There are added restraints on the user to provide the correct input at the correct time. For example, if a user's input is incorrect, the game may require them to repeat a section of the game. This higher cost of failure can result in added frustration to the user. In some cases, a user may be able to use his or her own visual feedback to verify that their fingers are touching the correct positions. However, with the added timing restrictions of video games, and the need to respond quickly to auditory or visual feedback, the user can rarely take his eyes from the display device.
For example, the Apple iPhone allows users to play video game applications by interfacing with the touch screen. To give users a familiar experience, the hand-held device 50 will often display a control pad representation 70 on the touch screen 52 in conjunction with a particular gaming application, as shown in FIG. 3. The control pad representation 70 will “show” virtual buttons to the user in a fashion analogous to controllers commonly used with stand-alone video game systems. One common feature includes four touch-receiving sensors or buttons arranged underneath the control pad representation 70 that is otherwise has the visual appearance of a plus sign shaped piece, and is typically known as a directional pad. The directional pad 70, or D-Pad, often controls the direction of something in the game. Other individual button representations 72, 74 are also often displayed, and are typically circular. Once again, the representations 70-74 are only displayed on the video display device 50, and do not physically exist on device 50, and thus are referred to as “virtual” buttons, controllers, keyboards, etc. The device 50 responds to a sensed touch at one of the virtual buttons, controllers, etc., in some prescribed manner.
In light of the above, a need exists for systems and methods for improving a user's tactile interaction with a touch-sensing system, and in particular with touch-sensing systems provided with hand-held devices in performing video game applications and/or other applications such as keyboards.